Training & Form

In a nutshell

Your coaching staff train players to develop traits and keep match sharpness high, while form rises and falls with how you rotate, rest, and play your squad.

How form changes

After matches form shifts based on performance rating. Great performances boost form while poor ones lower it. The effect scales with minutes played, so a player who plays 90 minutes gets the full effect, while a 15-minute sub gets a smaller shift.

Idle decay kicks in when players don't play for more than a week. Their form gradually drops, and the longer they sit, the faster it falls. Training protects against this.

High-form regression means very high form naturally drifts back down over time. Maintaining elite form requires consistent good performances.

Goalkeepers receive a rating bonus for clean sheets, ensuring they benefit from strong defensive performances.

Who trains your players

Training is run by your backroom staff. Each type works on something different.

Coaches

develop traits. Each coach specialises in a position area (Goalkeeping, Defence, Midfield or Attack) and can develop any eligible trait on players in that area. A coach with more stars trains faster, not better access. Any coach can also run form training.

Psychologists

handle mentality. They retrain away the negative traits that coaches cannot touch, getting bad habits out of a player's game.

Physios

shorten injury recovery, getting your players back on the pitch sooner.

Form training

keeps match sharpness up. Any coach can run it, and players in training are protected from idle decay.

Hiring staff

Who you hire decides which areas you can develop and how fast. See the section for hiring detail.

How a training session works

It takes time, not Rivs. A form session takes 2 days to complete and is free to run. Your coaches' wages are the real cost, and a good Fitness Suite can shave time off each session.

Form gains are variable. Players with low form benefit the most, while players already in great form see diminishing returns.

Matches still happen. Players can still play matches while training. It doesn't affect availability, and suspended players continue training normally.

Injuries cancel training

If a player picks up an injury during a match, any in-progress session is automatically cancelled and its progress is lost. There is nothing to refund since sessions are free, but the coach's time is wasted.

When to train

1

Low form. Training is most effective on players who are well below their best.

2

Out of action. A player hasn't played recently, so training prevents idle decay.

3

Just recovered. A player has come back from injury and needs sharpness.

4

Before a growth review. Top up form across the squad so average form is high when development is calculated.

Why form matters

Form feeds directly into player growth. When a player's tenure is reviewed, their average form acts as a gate on whether their rating climbs. Keep form high and a developing player can push their rating up; let it sag and that growth stalls or slips into decline. See Player Growth for the full picture.

Minutes matter

Both form changes and growth scale with minutes played. Giving a young player 60+ minutes develops them far more than a brief cameo, which makes substitution timing a real tactical decision, especially for developing youth players.

What to do

Rotate your squad, train smart, and give youth players real game time.